Man gets $100,000 in settlement with Marshall police
A federal court approved a settlement Friday in a lawsuit filed against police officers who accused a man of trying to shoot them.
Carl Roettgen will get $100,000 from the Marshall police officers involved in his 2016 arrest.
In 2016, the Saline County prosecutor dropped a number of charges against Roettgen that stemmed from an incident in which Marshall police tried to arrest him. At the time, police said Roettgen got away after pointing a gun at an officer’s head and pulled the trigger, but the gun didn’t go off. Officers also claimed Roettgen tried to run them over in his car.
Prosecutors said video of the incident did not match up with written statements from the police officers involved. Roettgen pleaded guilty to resisting arrest, and received a four-year prison sentence.
Each of the defendants, officers Tyler Newell, Josh O’Bryan, William McMellen, Mark Pitts, Assistant Chief Todd Reeter, Chief Mike Donnell and the city of Marshall, must all pay the settlement.
Marshall police officers are also involved in a lawsuit over excessive force. A judge is considering whether or not to dismiss a case filed by Harlan Fletcher, a veteran who says officers illegally searched his car for drugs and roughly arrested him. A state judge agreed that police found the drugs illegally, and prosecutors dropped the criminal case against him.
